PPC Optimization: Strange Attraction

Summary: Learn how using strange attraction in your ad text can lower CPC and boost CTR and conversions. Grab attention with letter and symbol combinations to optimize PPC campaigns.

Continuing our series on PPC ad text optimization, we look again at minimizing the cost of PPC text ads. With apologies to the Cure, we look at using ad text that offers a strange attraction to viewers. Using letter and symbol combinations that attract the eye can both increase click-through rates and lower cost per click.

Strange Attraction

The idea of strange attractors is to create combinations of letters and symbols that attract the fast-scanning eye of the short attention span searcher. Figure 1 shows a variation of 24/7 (which in itself is a kind of strange attractor).

Figure 1: PPC Ad Text Example of Strange Attraction

The ride service advertised is a 24 hour, 7 day a week service. We found that including spaces in the term 24/7 becomes "24 / 7" can yield higher click and conversion rates, and lower cost per click. The unusual combination of a symbol "/" plus numbers and spaces yields a strange attractor that grabs the roaming eye.

Scanning vs. Reading on the Web

People tend to scan text on the Web rather than read the entire page. Jakob Nielsen found that 79% of people scan rather than read on the Web. Eye-scanning studies have shown that the eye jumps around the page seeking interesting and useful information. Ad text has a limited text palette, feeding into our short attention span culture. Your ads are also competing for attention among other ads and search results. Make your ads stand out from the crowd.

Approved by Google

Of course you need to make sure your strange attractors are approved by Google. We've found that as long as the meaning is clear and the ad text doesn't go over the top of Google's guidelines you should be good to go.

Other Examples of Strange Attractors

Some other examples of strange attraction combinations are as follows:

100% Guarantee

24 / 7 Service

& (instead of "and")

one Hump, camel case

Conclusion

Using strange attraction ad text can boost click-through and conversion rates and lower cost per click. We found that using a strange attractor of "24 / 7" lowered the cost per click significantly and in some cases boosted CTR over the baseline.

Further Reading

Abbreviating key phrases in PPC text ads can lower CPC and the cost per conversion. Our otherwise identical text ad with "Michigan" abbreviated to "Mich" decreased the cost per call by more than 35%, and increased the conversion rate by 33 percentage points.

Targeting your desired audience within particular geographic area using income is a powerful tool you can use to improve your conversion rates. Average household income is just the first demographic that Google has rolled out for that purpose. Coming soon are gender, age, and parental status which could be used to further refine your campaigns.

Learn how to add ZIP code targeting to your PPC campaigns to boost conversion rates. By optimizing the performance of individual demographics and locations, you can improve conversion rates to squeeze more leads out your AdWords spend.